Clean Run Magazine - November 2008 - 40

decrease). The incorrect behavior of pecking the wrong target decreases or extinguishes. When the chicken stops pecking at the wrong target, this “choice” is reinforced by presenting the target that “triggers” reinforcement. The consequences are very black and white. Peck the correct target, and get reinforced. Peck the incorrect target, and lose the opportunity for reinforcement. The removal of reinforcement must be instant for the animal to get the association to the behavior, just as the presentation of the reward or opportunity for reward must be immediate. (Note: Gradually the chicken must wait longer and longer after a mistake before the correct target is reintroduced. This prevents an incorrect chain of behavior from developing.)You may argue that simply not reinforcing the incorrect target is withholding reinforcement (negative punisher). It may be, but it doesn’t necessarily remove the opportunity for reinforcement. The key question: Is the behavior of pecking the wrong target decreasing? If the answer is no, simply withholding reinforcement is not a punisher. By definition, a punisher decreases behavior, just as a reinforcer should increase behavior. If your dog doesn’t work for a toy, a toy is not currently a reinforcer for your dog. If the chicken pecks the incorrect target and there is no significant consequence, the behavior of selecting the correct target will not be precise because pecking a target is a “cheap” behavior. If there is no consequence, the behavior won’t extinguish. It’s very likely that a chain of behavior will develop that involves pecking the incorrect target first, and then the correct target. Let’s analyze the situation.The dog reinforced himself for breaking his contact by performing a tunnel. He finds agility reinforcing enough that withholding a toy isn’t a negative punisher or he wouldn’t have repeated the mistake. No consequence or marker of any sort happened at the moment he made the wrong choice. He gets to perform the contact again, which is something he enjoys doing anyway. If you let him continue to break and take the tunnel and don’t reward him, do you think the behavior of breaking and going into the tunnel will extinguish? Not likely. Therefore, this punisher is by definition not a punisher. As you can see, this attempt at negative punishment (removing a reinforcer) was used poorly. Did it do any damage? No, but the trainer is likely to struggle with contacts for the dog’s career because the behavior is not black and white. There is no precision in the training. The more precise you want your behavior to be, while maintaining speed and motivation, the more important it is to understand the use of tools other than positive reinforcement. We’ve all seen dogs that are wildly motivated but have no precision in their work, and dogs at the opposite end of the continuum that are very precise but lacking in motivation. If you understand all the tools available, you can walk that fine line between precision and motivation. It’s understandable why instructors don’t want to move beyond positive reinforcement until people develop their training skills. If students can’t use positive reinforcement correctly, they’re not going to have the skills to use anything else well. But make no mistake, the top trainers are using other tools in conjunction with positive reinforcement and they are using them well.They are doing no harm. If they were, the dogs would not be running fast and enthusiastically. To advance your abilities as a trainer, you need to understand all the tools and use them correctly. Applying the Concepts to Agility Training Let’s apply this to agility. You have a high,very motivated dog that loves tunnels. He’ll play with you with his toy but he loves agility at least as much. He understands his contact behavior. In training, he breaks his contact and shoots into a tunnel. You don’t give him his toy and call him back to try again. He breaks the contact and goes through the tunnel again. Is withholding the reward of his toy an effective negative punisher? Will it be associated with not performing his contact behavior? Are the consequences black and white? D Kathy Keats is a world class competitor and coach. Kathy and her Border Collie Mojo won the 2004 IFCS 22” Overall World Championship, the 2004 USDAA Northeast Super Regional, and appeared in the ESPN Great Outdoor Games and USDAA Grand Prix Final. ShehasalsocoachedtheFCICanadianAgilityTeam.Shehastraineddogsforlivetheater and is involved with sheepdog training. Kathy instructs across North America and offers online agility programs. She teaches near Toronto, Ontario, and can be reached at theagilitycoach@boywooddogs.com. 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Clean Run Magazine - November 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - November 2008
